Programs for English Learners Falls Short, Committee Says
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
The Bilingual Community Council delivered a pointed critique of the district's services for English language learners, saying many of the programs and practices the district claims to have in place are not being carried out in the classroom.
Reporting to the board meeting as the Committee of the Whole, the council said the district's ELL programs are ad hoc and disorganized, lack leadership and are plagued by inadequately trained teachers, insufficient staff and poor instructional materials. The council's report came after months of visiting elementary, middle and high schools.
As a result of a 1974 Supreme Court decision, the SFUSD is required to develop and monitor programs that provide meaningful education to English language learners. Its Lau Report, last published in 2005, is designed to document what the district is doing to comply.
But the community council was scathing in its appraisal of the report, saying much of what is written there is not actually being implemented in the schools.
There is no Spanish bilingual program at the high school level at all outside of Newcomer, where students stay only a limited time, council members said. Middle schools also have a marked lack of resources, they said.
Schools are operating without direction, each inventing its own way to deal with English language learners, according to community council members' reports. "This is a bus that doesn't have a driver," said council member Pete Cayeros. "I'm blown away by the energy, creativity and dedication of these people, but we just don't have a system in place, and the direction and the accountability and assessment to drive what's going on."
One of the biggest problems, council members said, is that programs teaching English language learners do not teach enough of the core curriculum.
Educator Luisa Esquero pointed to one type of instruction cited in the Lau Report called Native Language Content Courses, in which student is supposed to receive instruction in core subjects like math, science, social studies and language arts, in their native tongue until they begin to gain proficiency in English.
"I'm sorry to say, but that's not what we have any more."
Staffing has been a systemic problem. Many of the teachers are not adequately credentialed. Council member May Huie said she'd been to several schools where teachers actually were credentialed to teach ESL, but didn't speak students' native language and had no paraprofessionals to help. Students in the class become, in effect, the teacher's assistant, she said.
"The schools are doing the best they can at the site level. But it's an overwhelming task," Council member Tina Alejo said. "I was at one school that had only one ESL teacher for all of its students, and a large number of (those) students coming in."
The council report also cited a serious lack of continuity among programs to serve English language learners. "Programs are deleted, added and changed, and it's not based on what's working or isn't working, it's based on staffing and budget needs," Huie said.
Huie said it was vital for the district to gather data and develop an assessment program that will give its leaders some idea which programs are failing and which are having the most effect. Based partly on the council's findings, the district has initiated an effort to work with the Information Technology and Multilingual departments in an effort to devise a data-gathering system, said Christina Hiroshima, staff liaison to the council.
Board members listened somberly to the council's assessment. Commissioner Eric Mar pointed out that some reports show the achievement gap between English language learners and native speakers widening in the district.
"We know we have issues in human resources, credentialing, facilities and content, tracking systems and assessment," board member Eddie Chin said. "We need to take the initiative to open up the dialogue between principals, IT, central office, HR, staff and the board to fully engage this issue."
Some board members cited the difficulty of finding bilingual teachers who were certified both to teach ELL and core curriculum subjects. "We simply don't have people coming out of college with these credentials," board member Mark Sanchez said, adding that retraining existing staff and offering financial incentives might be other ways to address the issue.
The board members called for making ELL a priority issue and developing better, ongoing communication with the council, which had not reported to the board in two years.
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